NCAA report on graduation rates out

Posted: Tue 4:43 PM, Oct 14, 2008&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Fri 12:18 PM, Mar 05, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - NCAA president Myles Brand sees theprogress. College athletes are earning degrees at record rates, accordingto a NCAA report released Tuesday, and at higher percentages thanthe overall student body. Brand, who has made academic reform his top priority, wasencouraged by new NCAA figures that show 79 percent of allstudent-athletes who entered school in the fall of 2001 havegraduated and 78 percent of those who entered college between 1998and 2001 earned degrees within six years. Both are one-pointincreases over last year's report and all-time highs. Still, he acknowledges challenges remain as those who playedmen's basketball, football and baseball continue to lag behindstudent-athletes in other sports. From 1998-2001 men's basketball players graduated at 62 percent,while baseball produced a rate of 68 percent. Football BowlSubdivision teams had a grad rate of 67 percent, and the FootballChampionship Subdivision came in at 65 percent. Women's bowling, at68 percent, was the only other sport to finish below 70 percent. "We are continuing to make progress toward the goal Iestablished of an 80 percent graduation success rate," Brand said."While there is still room for growth in some sports, we have seenimprovements." White men's basketball players who enrolled in 2001 graduated at80 percent, a one-point drop from last year's report. Black men'sbasketball players, however, continued to improve, with 58 percentgraduating, a two-point increase from last year and up 12 pointsover the seven years the NCAA has tracked the numbers. To some, these are encouraging trends. "I'm confident enough to say that we still need to work ondecreasing the gap between white athletes and African-Americanathletes overall," said Richard Lapchick, who leads the Universityof Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport."But this is really good news for college sports." This is the fourth year the NCAA has released its own data.Schools are required to send their graduation information to theNCAA each year, and the research staff compiles the numbers. The newest NCAA graduation statistics were significantly higherthan statistics compiled by the federal government, which showed 64percent of student-athletes who started college from 1998 to 2001graduated in six years. That's two points higher than the overallstudent body. Federal statistics do not include transfer students'performances. For example, if an athlete enrolls at one school,then transfers to another, neither school receives credit when thatathlete graduates. Brand said including transfers increases the number ofstudent-athletes measured by 37 percent, and Lapchick said heconsidered the NCAA's measurement a more accurate number. Six schools graduated 100 percent of their student-athletes forthe one-year class of 2001-02, according to the report. They wereAlcorn State, Campbell, Canisius, Colgate, Manhattan andValparaiso. More than 100 basketball programs and one football program -Alcorn State - graduated 100 percent of their athletes who enrolledfrom 1998-2001. Connecticut, Stanford and Tennessee were three of77 women's programs, but only 27 men's programs matched thatperfect mark, including Florida State, Marquette, Notre Dame, WakeForest and Western Kentucky. "I think increasing the initial eligibility standards meansstudent-athletes are better prepared to succeed when they entercollege," said Brand, who has made academic reform his toppriority. During that same four-year enrollment period, 75 men'sbasketball teams failed to graduate half their athletes, and 26college football teams also were under 50 percent. A dozen women'sbasketball programs had less than 50 percent, and just two - Kansasand West Virginia - were from power conferences. The numbers can be affected by players who turn pro before theirsenior seasons and squad size - football has a limit of 85scholarships compared with 13 in men's basketball. The worst scores among the three major sports were produced byJackson State and two schools in California. Jackson State had azero; Fresno State graduated 7 percent and Cal State-Northridge wasat 8 percent, all in men's basketball. In comparison, the lowestscoring program in football was Savannah State in Georgia (30percent). North Carolina A&T and Florida International shared thatdistinction in women's basketball with 38 percent. The poorest performer among the nation's six power conferenceswas Maryland, which had a 10 percent grad rate in men's basketballafter posting a zero last year. Other notable findings were: - More than half of the Pac-10 schools graduated fewer than 50percent of men's basketball players. Those schools were Arizona,Arizona State, Cal, UCLA, USC and Washington State. - Nearly half of the Big East and Big 12 men's basketball teamsfailed to reach 50 percent. Cincinnati, UConn, DePaul, Louisville,South Florida and West Virginia in the Big East and Baylor,Colorado, Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M in the Big 12 all fell intothat category. - Arizona, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma were the only BCSschools to graduate fewer than 50 percent of football players, butonly Arizona fell below 45 percent. - Defending national football champion LSU had a grad rate of 54percent; defending men's basketball champ Kansas came in at 64percent. - Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., was the only schoolto graduate less than half its athletes in all three major sports. - Gulf Coast schools' statistics might have been affected by theHurricane Katrina disaster, which hit three years ago. Among thosefalling below the 50 percent line were men's basketball teams atLSU, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi Valley State, Southern,Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Orleans; and footballteams at Grambling and Southern.

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